McLaren Automotive Wins Court Judgment on CRS

McLaren Automotive Ltd. has won the court judgment on its former motorsports partner CRS GT Ltd., which will allow McLaren to now provide customer support for the 570S GT4, 650S GT3 and 12C GT3 models.

Decided Friday in the High Court of Justice – Business and Property Courts of England and Wales Commercial Court, the ruling rejected CRS’ claims of having the rights to provide “aftersales services” to GT3 and GT4 customers.

It comes after McLaren’s termination of its contract with CRS in 2017, with the Andrew Kirkaldy-led operation having built, developed and provided customer support of the British manufacturer’s GT cars since 2010.

According to court documents provided to Sportscar365 by McLaren, CRS argued that it held “exclusive rights” to provide support to GT3 customers after its contract period had ended and that it also had a “binding contract” with McLaren in relation to the GT4 project.

The courts rejected and dismissed both claims, although McLaren will continue to pay CRS a share of profits of all GT4 cars sold, as initially agreed upon.

The ruling comes amid the launch of McLaren’s all-new 720S GT3 car as part of its refocused motorsports operation that has been brought entirely in-house.

“For the growing number of our McLaren customer racers, this judgment is significant as it means we can finally now provide the support for their 570S GT4 racing activities, all backed by our dedicated global motorsport retail network,” said McLaren Automotive director of motorsport Dan Walmsley.

“We would like to thank customers for their understanding and continued patience.

“We continue to develop new in-house motorsport products like the 720S GT3 car which has already garnered international interest from many customer teams and drivers and is showing promising potential in its extensive development program.”

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365 as well as the recently launched e-racing365 Web site for electric racing. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com/SPEED Channel, and contributes to other publications worldwide. Contact John